Troops Staying in Afghanistan, Troops Going to Cameroon, Secret Drone Documents Leaked: A.M. Links

• 

  Gage Skidmore

  President Obama has a bold new plan: leave troops in Afghanistan for much longer. Certainly, this is just what the troubled region needs.

• The president is also deploying 300 troops to fight Boko Haram in Cameroon.
• The Intercept published a bunch of leaked papers relating to U.S. drone policy.
• The Jeb Bush campaign is making some cutbacks.
• Remember that aunt suing her nephew for an overly exuberant hug? We have an explanation: she was required to file the suit in order for the insurance company to pay out.
• Most people agree that Hillary Clinton has been dishonest about Benghazi.
• Ron Paul testified in the Jesse Benton trial on Wednesday. He accused federal authorities of trying to damage Rand Paul's campaign.

New at Reason.com:

Brickbat: That's Some Fine Police Work

By Charles Oliver

Only an Unprincipled Congress Would Revive the Ex-Im Bank

The fight over the crony-capitalist program highlights all that's wrong with Washington. By Veronique de Rugy

Against The Anti-Politician Politicians

An anti-politician politician is someone who holds that the only thing wrong with government is that professionals run it. He or she never eschews power itself. By Sheldon Richman

Why Is Hillary Clinton So Unhappy?

We can start with the fact that she is her own worst enemy. By Judge Andrew Napolitano

The Feds Shouldn't Prosecute Dylann Roof

Redundant charges against the Charleston shooter highlight the unconstitutional absurdity of the federal hate crime statute. By Jacob Sullum

Putin Will Find Appearances Can Deceive in Syria

Russia will suffer if the intervention fails. By Steve Chapman

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Intercept published a bunch of leaked papers relating to U.S. drone policy.

Snowden is just trolling those debate Dems who stuck up for him.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[CatoTheChipper]

I'm pretty sure it's a NEW Snowden.

[Anomalous]

But where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?

[R C Dean]

Dead or in jail?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I see that... now.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Most people agree that Hillary Clinton has been dishonest about Benghazi.

Not the press who cheered when Sanders said move on, though.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

PHAIK SKANDUL!!11!!!1!!!!!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The president is also deploying 300 troops to fight Boko Haram in Cameroon.

I don't remember there being a vote in Congress to authorize this.

[d3x / dt3]

They can link up with those troops fighting Ebola, also not authorized by congress.

Because FYTW

[Zeb]

How quaint.

[Lee G]

Congress is a paper tiger that has delegated its powers away. The majority of the electorate cannot see the enormous problem this creates.

[CatoTheChipper]

The purpose of Congress under the Living Constitution is to enact the legislation that the President wants so that it appears that the President is acting according to the written Constitution.

Whenever the Congress fails to enact the legislation that President wants, it is characterized as "obstructionist" or "do-nothing". Well, at least when GOP holds a majority in Congress and there's a progressive President.

[R C Dean]

The purpose of Congress under the Living Constitution is to

Not bother the President with inconvenient hearings, subpoenas, or bills, but to hop to and pass whatever he wants.

[Just say Nikki]

Second and Final AM Announcement to Chicagolanders

Thanks to former regular and current friend-of-H&R generic Brand, we are meeting up.

Join us this Sunday at Hopleaf in Andersonville. We're going to start arriving around 12:30pm so gB can have a whole day of drinking ahead of him.

Bring a friend, sex partner, or both! Feel free to email me (my handle) or gB (his handle) if you want more info.

[VicRattlehead]

will there be an after party orgy?

[Old Man With Candy]

My sex partner told me that they don't serve fourth graders there. Any suggestions?

[Just say Nikki]

Andersonville is full of schools, parks, and family restaurants. You might even find a new friend!

[Old Man With Candy]

Yes, but I can't bring her into the bar.

You really are The Worst.

[Brochettaward]

After the Amber Alert goes out, wouldn't that be kind of risky, anyway?

[Old Man With Candy]

I'm quite spry for my age. By the time the alert goes out, I'm done.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Not so much spry, as premature.

[Old Man With Candy]

Premature is the whole point.

[VicRattlehead]

Just wear your flasher jacket and have her hide underneath

[Old Man With Candy]

I'm a molester, not a flasher. As someone who has spend decades working on his craft, honing it to perfection, I am horribly offended by this.

[Free Society]

All molestors look alike to you? That's problematic. Molestors need an advocate fighting for them, speaking out against ignorance like this. Someone call Lena Dunham.

[Crusty Juggler]

Like you haven't bragged about masturbating while in a bed next to a much younger sibling.

[R C Dean]

Yes, but I can't bring her into the bar.

And leaving her handcuffed in the van is a problem, why?

[VicRattlehead]

Warty or STEVE SMITH may find her and doubly kidnap her

[Just a thought not a sermon]

101) At one point, my church was providing a week-long shelter for area homeless people during the winter. Many of the homeless people exhibited various signs of mental illness or addiction. A few just seemed to be down on their luck. I and another of the volunteers stayed up late in the church kitchen chatting with one man with a well-trimmed beard, worn but clean clothes, and no body odor. He was amiable and charming, with a knowledge of local history and current events. "Why is this guy homeless?" I wondered several times. At one point an African-American fellow came in asking for a glass of water, and stood behind the bearded man. Snarling, the previously genial fellow whirled: "Step back! I don't mix with your kind, and I don't want you near me." The reason for his homelessness suddenly became apparent, and a lesson for me as well.

[Illocust]

Eeesh, that sounds like a form of mental illness too. Unless the guy got assaulted personally or lost someone close to him to black youths, that kind of outburst isn't normal even for hard core racists. Course, I'm probably dong what a lot of people do and ascribing all bad behavior to mental illness.

[VicRattlehead]

You obviously have never lived in the deep south

[UnCivilServant]

It sounds more live you've never lived there.

[Suthenboy]

Uh huh. Sounds like Vic has been watching too much TV.

[Atanarjuat]

Does anyone from here actually call it that? I've been in north Florida for 3 decades and never heard anyone say the phrase "the deep South", except some kid in high school who transferred in from some large Rust Belt city who informed me that we were all ignorant rednecks.

[Illocust]

I'm from Texas and have had a similar experience. The only time you hear the Deep South mentioned is by Yankees or people who despise where they grew up.

[VicRattlehead]

Yankee who lived in Arlington FL. and there were plenty of people who acted that way. I also hung out with members of American Front and was a skinhead for that time in my life. not that im like that anymore just that its not a big surprise to hear an old timer react like that, most wouldnt even go to McDonalds in Mayport because it was staffed with minorities and didnt want them touching their food. say what you will but its not like this is an isolated case by any means.

[Mr. Flanders]

Lol Vic has definitely never lived in the deep south.

[VicRattlehead]

Arlington FL dipshit

[Mr. Flanders]

Na, I don't believe you.

[DaveSs]

Sounds more like Chicago.

They self segregate pretty tightly there.

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

I was gonna say Detroit - same thing

[Chip the Chipper]

Yep so much racism in the "deep south" whatever the fuck that is.

You drive 100 miles out of any major city and everyone is the same.

[VicRattlehead]

Sounds legit, i moved from the Adirondacks in NY to Arlington in Jax FL, from an area where racism doesnt exist in any form and everyone knew their neighbors business to a place where there were many organized groups of racists one of which i am not proud to have joined up with in my youth. I always attributed it to being in the south however the rural farm lands to inner city may have been the real difference. sorry to disparage southerners but it was just my lived experience that racism was much more intense in one geographical location than the other. Ive never lived in a northern city and im sure i would find a similar thing.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...she was required to file the suit in order for the insurance company to pay out.

Outstanding.

[some guy]

It's interesting that she was required to sue the child rather than the homeowner/renter in order to get a claim. I would have expected she be required to sue the person who had the insurance policy...

[Rhywun]

1. I don't understand why her medical didn't cover it.
2. They said yesterday she "lost" the case, so does that mean she's SOL?
3. Now she can sue whoever spread malicious lies for emotional turmoil or something.

[Isaac Bartram]

It's possible that her medical insurance required her to seek damages to from the homeowners policy before it settled on the case.

I had a hospital stay after an accident earlier this year and Blue Cross wanted to know if there was any other party who could be held responsible before they would pay up. My mother had a similar experience after a fall and some broken ribs.

[Lord Humungus]

Rent-the-chicken business taking flight in Kamloops

Starting next spring, they plan to be renting local residents a package including two or four laying hens, a few large bags of feed, food and water dishes, a portable chicken coop and a set of instructions, all delivered to their door.

The two-hen starter package runs $425 plus tax, while the deluxe four-hen package is $600 plus tax.

...

There remains one hitch in the plan though. Kamloops City Council has yet to approve backyard chickens within city limits.

[Rich]

two-hen starter package

Nice band name.

[egould310]

Album name.

[Rich]

Upon the coffee kicking in, I agree.

[gaoxiaen]

Spinning plates.

[straffinrun]

Albumen name? *Yeah, yeah, narrow gaze*

[commodious spittoon]

*grudging applause*

[Princess Trigger]

Or weekday special at a brothel.

[straffinrun]

Which came first?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

It's a brothel, the chickens were just faking.

[some guy]

We've got it so good these days that people can afford to waste their time farming in their own backyards. Division of labor: How does it work?

[commodious spittoon]

Not just time but a great deal of cash. $425 for two hens, some feed, and a little coop? To rent? Absurd.

[some guy]

True. I was just complaining about the general trend of people having gardens in their 200 sq. ft. townhouse yards. But yeah, that chicken package is practically a luxury item, used solely for social signaling.

[Tonio]

Well, renting gives them an easy out if they find they aren't up to the challenges of poultry keeping.

[R C Dean]

I thought that's what the deep fryer was for.

[Atanarjuat]

A live chicken is less than $10 at the local flea market last time I checked, so this is definitely targeted toward your upper-crust Hippie.

[Juice]

Don't they all have a bit of crust?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Ron Paul testified in the Jesse Benton trial on Wednesday. He accused federal authorities of trying to damage Rand Paul's campaign.

Like they need to even try.

[LynchPin1477]

What a dumbass trial full of dumbass federal authorities.

[Free Society]

It is kind of telling of the threat libertarianism poses to their order. Even a candidate with nearly no chance of winning gets systemically fucked by every government official with enough wherewithal to do so. See GOP convention in 2012 for further evidence.

[Lord Humungus]

Man tries to put out garbage fire by driving over it in a van loaded with ammunition

The deputy learned that the owner had been burning garbage in the field and accidentally let the fire get out of control. In an attempt to put the fire out, he drove his van back and forth over the flames.

This made matters worse, as the tires of the van caught fire. Realizing that the van was loaded with firearms ammunition and a full tank of gas, the driver evacuated the area for safety.

A crew from the Liberty Fire Department responded to make sure the fire did not spread. It was unclear what type of ammunition the owner had in the vehicle.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Holy Saint Christopher - OUTA THAT VEHICLE, CHAMP, SHE'S LICKIN' FIRE!"

[Citizen X]

"Damn, we're in a tight spot!"

[Zeb]

Well, full tank of gas is better than mostly empty.

[DJF]

There is a 25 minute video on You Tube which shows that small arms ammo is not really that dangerous even if very large quantities are set on fire. Since its not confined in a gun barrel the cartridges just pop like popcorn and have very little penetrating or explosive power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlOXowwC4c

[Zeb]

Makes sense. I wouldn't want to be in the van with it, but it's not going to cause the whole thing to blow up.
I've heard anecdotally that those military style ammo boxes will not break open even if all the cartridges inside go off because of a fire.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

That's how the Duke puts out all his fires!

[Chip the Chipper]

Not Florida!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ron Paul testified in the Jesse Benton trial on Wednesday. He accused federal authorities of trying to damage Rand Paul's campaign.

The press and Rand don't need their help.

[gaoxiaen]

Ron. Paul. Is. The. Man.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The Intercept published a bunch of leaked papers relating to U.S. drone policy.

In other news, entire office of The Intercept moves to reinforced underground bunker.

[VicRattlehead]

Je Suis Intercept

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"The Jeb Bush campaign is making some cutbacks."

Maybe they should start with their candidate.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Jeb Bush campaign is making some cutbacks.

Cutbacks President Jeb Bush would never make.

[Lord Humungus]

Why Hillary Clinton Can't Win by Going After the NRA
Rekindling the culture war with the gun lobby is a losing proposition.

But Clinton may be making a mistake framing her argument in culture-war terms?as a battle against the National Rifle Association, which is a conspiracy-minded extremist group that thrives when under attack. Moreover, while some of her ideas make sense, others, including her emphasis on "assault weapons," come straight from a tired, ineffective gun-control playbook.

What's needed is a sorting out: fact from myth, reason from rhetoric. We also need to analyze rigorously the separate challenges posed by sensational mass shootings and ordinary violent crime.

Let's begin with the folly of making the NRA the issue. "They're celebrating at NRA headquarters in Fairfax [Va.] that Hillary is coming after them," says longtime gun-rights activist Richard Feldman. "You can't ask for better ammunition for the NRA."

[Just a thought not a sermon]

The Washington Post has a frontpage article today to the effect that democrats are no longer afraid to campaign on gun restrictions. I so hope Hillary goes with this in her campaign. Can you imagine the resulting epic, Mondale-scale national loss?

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, if the Democrats really want to make gun control their focus this election, I'd put the over/under on states won at 3

[Chip the Chipper]

Every state they can win the "gun debate" is already a state that they would probably win anyway. They run the risk at pissing off independents, purples, and rurals in swing states.

[Cyto]

I dunno. It probably would cost them Wisconsin and Ohio. Are there any other semi-reliable blue states that would swing on gun rights?

It certainly doesn't hurt on the west coast or in the northeast. That's all they really need if they carry Florida.

[Princess Trigger]

I read that. My first thought was - they need to hire better pollsters.

[Tejicano]

My take on this is that Hilary's ego is overriding the advice from her posters. I would bet she just "knows" that she is right on this issue. It would bring me great satisfaction to see her campaign go down in flames over this.

[Free Society]

On the one singular issue that she takes any kind of principled, albeit misinformed, stand she will be destroyed for it.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

a conspiracy-minded extremist group

That right there, pretty much says it all. They should start droning us all right now.

[Fist of Etiquette]

By win, do they mean the presidency or the primary?

[Illocust]

Seriously, they need to just accept that the NRA is a grass roots organization and move on rhetorically. They do just fine arguing other big groups of people are idiots. There should be no reason to pretend the NRA exclusively is some top down thing.

[Drake]

She says she's against the "NRA". A huge number of Americans immediately translate that statement to "she's against people who own guns (like me)."

[R C Dean]

And that translation is accurate.

[Zeb]

Indeed. They are just desperate to paint the NRA as being entirely owned by gun manufacturers and appear unable to figure out why it's just not working. I've got my problems with the NRA (mostly their annoying fundraising tactics and their being insufficiently radical), but they really are what they claim to be, as far as I can see.

[Rich]

"Oh, yeah?! Well, the NRA rated *me* F-minus!"

[Drake]

Good luck with that campaign speech in flyover country next year.

[Zeb]

The only marginally intelligent thing I have heard from that debate was Sanders pointing out basically that fact to the other candidates. Outside of certain big cities, the ridiculous gun control shit it not going to fly. VT is blue as can be and has about the best gun laws in the country.

[Zeb]

which is a conspiracy-minded extremist group that thrives when under attack.

They may employ a little conspiracy theorizing to try to extract more money from some members (the UN is going to take your guns away any day now). But "extremist"? They are one of the most middle of the road, old-school conservative political interest groups around.

[gaoxiaen]

I quit my NRA membership after they rated Libertarians as a question mark on gun control. Fuck the NRA.

[Zeb]

As in the Libertarian party? I don't pay a whole lot of attention to the LP, but that seems odd.

I stopped supporting the NRA several years ago for a number of reasons, but mostly because of the annoying volume of fundraising pleas.

[The Last American Hero]

Libertarians don't always come down on the side of law enforcement, so the NRA had some issues.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

The NRA has some awesome commercials running on CNBC in the am. They've got an old black women explain how her neighborhood is dangerous but the housing authority won't let her own a gun and why the NRA is the good guy and on her side. In another, a WWII Greek war refugee and immigrant explains how horrible the Nazis were (who knew?) and why America is great because of the 2nd A. Commercials with minorities, women, and war refugees have to be effective.

[commodious spittoon]

What is conspiracy-minded about taking Dems at their word?

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama has a bold new plan: leave troops in Afghanistan for much longer.

Pay it forward. Enjoy, next president.

[Lord Humungus]

Majority still supports single-payer option, poll finds

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Home | Policy | Healthcare
Majority still supports single-payer option, poll finds

By Sarah Ferris - 01/19/15 04:57 PM EST

More than five years after the single-payer system was scrapped from ObamaCare policy debates, just over 50 percent of people say they still support the idea, including one-quarter of Republicans, according to a new poll.

The single-payer option ? also known as Medicare for all ? would create a new, government-run insurance program to replace private coverage. The system, once backed by President Obama, became one of the biggest casualties of the divisive healthcare debates of 2009.

The idea remains extremely popular among Democrats, with nearly 80 percent in support, according to the poll, which was shared first with The Hill by the Progressive Change Institute.

"There is a hunger in America for big progressive ideas," spokesperson TJ Helmstetter wrote in a statement. "The state of our union is progressive, and the president would be smart to give America the big, popular, progressive economic ideas that people have been crying out for.

[d3x / dt3]

Yay!

[Just say Nikki]

including one-quarter of Republicans

Thanks, Donald.

[Brochettaward]

...which was shared first with The Hill by the Progressive Change Institute.

Pay no mind to the man behind the curtain. Completely legit.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

You guys don't see it but you already have it. Done deal. Obamacare opened that door. Obama did his part in rubbing the welfare ideals into the psyche.

Welcome to Hotel Free Shit.

[SimonJester]

Ding Ding.

Obamacare was, i reckon and many have said repeatedly, SO overwhelmingly bad that it would FORCE a single payer system.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Anybody who didn't recognize that before it was even voted on, was just not paying attention.

[Monty Crisco]

FEATURE, not a bug...

[CatoTheChipper]

Same here. ObamaCare was designed to fail forward into either single-payer or national health.

[Illocust]

I'll go for a VA style system. The government pays for its own buildings, doctors, and equipment. Services are open to all, and the private sector is free to do as it pleases. The government option will be shit, but it being shit will help prevent people calling for it taking over what will be left of the private health industry.

[Zeb]

That would be a decent compromise, I think. Have some government funded charity hospitals (or whatever you want to call it). Then poor people who get hit by a bus are covered.

But the contingent who thinks that people with money being able to get better things is horrible and unfair will make a lot of noise.

[Illocust]

I'm certain they will, but they'll be easier to fight down when they can't trot out stories about folks losing their house to medical bills.

[Warty]

Mexico has something similar, I think.

[The Last American Hero]

I thought that Mexican health care was a shot of tequila and a barber for a surgeon.

[Citizen X]

No, that's the U.S.A. in about 10 years.

[Zeb]

Hell, that's me right now.

If we had Mexican healthcare, you wouldn't need to go to a doctor half the time because you could just go to the pharmacy if you needed antibiotics or painkillers or something.

[commodious spittoon]

poor people who get hit by a bus

That's an odd euphemism for getting knocked up.

[BigT]

e.g. USPS vs FedEx vs UPS

[Lee G]

I wouldn't. The government option would crowd out private competition. And the government would not leave the private sector alone.

[Illocust]

It would do less crowding out than a single payer option. I see it as the difference between only the yacht crowd being able to afford private healthcare and the upper salaried crowd being able to afford private healthcare. Plus the VA system would absorb a lot of the efforts of the busy bodies who want to control the proles in the same way public schools do for private schools. We will be worse off either way, but there are degrees of worse off.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Not gonna happen. Are you not reading the narrative? People would freak out others had an option. I mean, just the other day you had some chump complaining about rich people buying designer sandwiches. Under no circumstances must people have choice when it comes to health if it means others are left out.

Simple as that. Politics of envy.

[crab_apple]

I give the idea of allowing rich people to afford better healthcare while the idiots who wanted single payer being stuck with the shitty results of single payer 4 problematics,

*scornful hag face*

[some guy]

This is basically the Hong Kong option. The public part works okay... if its an emergency or a routine checkup. Otherwise you're waiting 12-18 months for treatment.

[Rich]

"There is a hunger in America for big progressive ideas"

Oh, so *that's* the growling we're hearing!

[crab_apple]

Irony lost on progressive policies in Venezuela causing ACTUAL hunger...

[LynchPin1477]

progressive economic ideas that people have been crying out for

You know what else the people cried out for?

[Rich]

More?

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

More?

[Rich]

I can never deny all the sweet things Old Man With Candy has tasted.

[Timrekgrun]

Moar!?!

[BigT]

MORE!

[Atanarjuat]

With a Rebel yell?

[straffinrun]

Why don't they just call it "No Payer option"?

[Zeb]

Why is it always single payer? Is it just that most Americans don't understand that that is only one option for universal medical coverage? Single payer seems to be the worst option for universal coverage. Of course I don't want government subsidizing or running anything, but if we had to have universal coverage, single payer wouldn't be the first choice. Something more like what they do in Germany or Switzerland would be far preferable.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

http://thepatientfactor.com/ca.....h-systems/

Canada's ranks 30th! We're #30!

[Zeb]

Canada is pretty much single payer, but each province runs its own thing. Do I have that somewhat right?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yes.

[The Last American Hero]

Which is why the wealthy and well connected come to the US when the lines are too long.

http://voices.washingtonpost.c.....t_sur.html

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yup. But don't tell Canadians that. They will just spin it in a way to make sure it's an anomaly or people who do that are unpatriotic.

My aunt just waited 11 hours in an emergency room at a hospital.

Such wonderful efficiency and compassion.

[commodious spittoon]

Which isn't uncommon in the US, by any means. Except Americans are looking at long wait times and thinking Yes. Yes, we need more of this.

[Zeb]

I suppose it's a benefit of small town living, but on the very few occasions I've been to the ER, I've never waited more than 20 minutes. Retching and moaning in pain from a kidney stone probably helped too.

[Timon 19]

NE Ohio must be relatively lucky. There's been an explosion of trauma-capable ERs throughout the suburbs and exurbs (though to get the really serious stuff treated, you still have to go to the main ones in the bigger cities). I'm not sure of the wait times, since I'm not in the habit of going to the ER, but they used to post them for Akron General facilities on the highway LED billboards around town, and that was back when there were 3 suburban facilities in addition to the main campus. Waits never were much more than 20 minutes, usually well below that. Since then, they've added a couple of facilities.

That's just for Akron General, which is hooked up with the Cleveland Clinic (I think...or is it University Hospitals?). There's the Akron City Hospital/Summa System and Akron Children's has a system, too.

[BigT]

That's why our cops are gunning down 12-year olds and babies - to fill up all those empty ERs!

[Rhywun]

I waited 10 hours once for a doctor to show up in the ER with a broken arm and groaning in agony. They just walked over and doped me every few hours to shut me up. This was in Buffalo, a city generally known for very good health care.

[Mickey Rat]

Which hospital?

[R C Dean]

Which isn't uncommon in the US, by any means.

Actually, unless you are in the hospital for a skinned knee or a runny nose, it is quite unusual. Not unheard of, but not usual.

That said, Timon, don't take those billboards at face value. Whatever they are timing, its not the time until you are taken into the treatment area, seen by a doctor, etc.

[Timon 19]

I suspect I haven't seen the billboards in a while for a reason, but still, I haven't heard the horror stories at the same level as they seem to happen elsewhere.

My wife once had to go to the ER. We got in nearly instantly. Probably had something to do with the fact that she was having one of those adverse reactions to drugs that they tell you to get the fuck to the ER NOW! about (lip swelling in response to NSAID).

[Zeb]

I suspect that in many cases, the people who complain about getting slow service at the ER are people who are not there for an actual emergency. And that is as it should be.

[Mr. Flanders]

That data is 15 years old o.O

[Akira]

Wait a minute - the US outranks Cuba! How is that possible?? Progressives are always telling me how Cuba has state-of-the-art healthcare for every citizen free of charge!

/sarc

[Chip the Chipper]

Popular opinion shouldn't necessarily form policy. This is why we have representatives not a democracy, but progressives don't seem to get that.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Rand Paul not keen to adding LGBT people to employment anti-discrimination laws

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday the government shouldn't step in to protect workers against anti-gay discrimination by their employers, arguing that such protections are unnecessary and would expose businesses to legal problems.

Paul, speaking to students at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, was asked whether he believes businesses should have the right to fire employees because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

"I think really the things you do in your house, we could just leave those in your house and they wouldn't have to be part of the workplace," said Paul, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination. "I don't know if we need to keep adding to different classifications to say government needs to be involved in the hiring and firing. I think society is rapidly changing and if you are gay, there are plenty of places that will hire you."

According to Paul, banning discrimination against LGBT workers would create "a class of people who can now sue."

"It sets up a whole industry for people who want to sue," he said."If you happen to be gay and you get fired, now you have a reason you [were fired]. ... People don't put up a sign and say, 'I'm firing you because you're gay.' It's something that's very much disputed."

You can just taste the hate.

[Just say Nikki]

Could he seriously not find a better way of talking about this? "Keep your identity at home and don't sue." Ugh.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Yeah, the whole "stay in the closet" while at work is distasteful at best. But at the same time you know how impossible it is to explain a libertarian perspective on discrimination laws without getting attacked as a bigot or a homophobe.

People are way too emotionally invested in this issue to listen to reason.

[Just say Nikki]

Well, it's definitely hard. But this is like, the opposite of how you do it well.

[Lee G]

He can't be philosophically consistent on this issue without attacking the CRA and attacking the CRA has blown back on him in the past.

He's too interested in winning to make the correct argument.

[Zeb]

But he's already on the record as being against parts of the CRA, philosophically at least. So why not stick to it.

[SusanM]

Working in a closet is bad enough but employers do like to fire people over social media posts, too.

http://tinyurl.com/m7exxsr

[Zeb]

What he should say is that social stigma against LGBT people is rapidly waning and it's better to let change happen through organic social evolution than through government force, which can lead to blowback and might actually hurt the employment prospects of LGBT people because employers don't want to get sued if they have to fire them over performance issues. And if a few people continue not to hire transexuals or gays or whatever, they are only hurting themselves by artificially limiting their pool of qualified applicants.

Or something like that.

[R C Dean]

Yeah, he botched the messaging.

[Old Man With Candy]

Paul disappoints yet again. He really doesn't seem to be interested in making the sort of strong statements that draw attention. Fading away....

[Tonio]

Yeah, that "keep your identity at home" is totally obnoxious and clueless. That means no family photos on your desk.

[GILMORE?]

"Ugh"

Faster, but with more intensity this time

[d3x / dt3]

That guy's a MONSTER!!!1!

How am I gonna sue that guy who won't bake a cake for me and Sergio?

And how else are we going to make everyone like everyone else unless we can sue them into submission?

I'm sure Hillary will make all of this right.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Such protections ARE unnecessary because we have the Twitter-mob to protect us. Just look at what happened to that business that wouldn't cater the imaginary gay pizza wedding.

[Lord Humungus]

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to lead California gun control ballot initiative

is measure, which requires nearly 366,000 signatures to qualify for next year's ballot, incorporates provisions of bills that stalled at the state Capitol. It would ban the possession of large-capacity magazines ? more than 10 rounds ? and require anyone who currently has them to sell to a licensed firearm dealer, transfer them out of state or relinquish them to law enforcement to be disposed of.

The pending measure also would force those selling ammunition to be licensed like firearm dealers and require the purchasers to go through a background check. It would establish a process to recover guns from people prohibited from owning them because of their criminal record; mandate individuals whose guns were lost or stolen to report to law enforcement; and compel the state Department of Justice to notify the federal government when someone is added to the database of people barred from buying or owning a firearm.

[LynchPin1477]

It would establish a process to recover guns from people prohibited from owning them because of their criminal record

I thought I heard a story about 1.5 years ago that they were already trying to do this in California with almost no success.

[R C Dean]

Obviously, they need more layers of bureaucrats and bigger budgets.

[Idle Hands]

The great white hope.

[The Last American Hero]

So should they start in Compton, see how well that works, and move on from there? Or would it be better to start with the celebrities living in the nicer parts of LA?

[Monty Crisco]

Damn you, Humungous...

[Rich]

Thirty-two percent say Clinton has been honest with the American people

She's being "as transparent as possible".

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

I think the full quote was "as transparent as possible without revealing the numerous felonies I committed"

[Warty]

ENB bait

To turn our back on some of the oppressed is to fracture our power, it is to obliterate our moral authority, it is to fail to see that the entire system of predatory exploitation seeks to swallow and devour us all. To be a radical is to stand with all who are turned into objects, and especially girls and women, that the global economy and much of the left has abandoned.

Andrea Dworkin got it. "Capitalism," she wrote, "is not wicked or cruel when the commodity is the whore. Profit is not wicked or cruel when the alienated worker is a female piece of meat. Poverty is not wicked or cruel when it is the poverty of dispossessed women who have only themselves to sell. Violence by the powerful against the powerless is not wicked or cruel when it is called sex. Slavery is not wicked or cruel when it is sexual slavery. Torture is not wicked or cruel when the tormented are women. The new pornography is left-wing, and the new pornography is a vast graveyard where the left has gone to die. The left cannot have its whores and its politics, too.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Not taking it.

Not based on that tripe.

[Warty]

Trigger warning: Hedges.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"Chris Hedges is an award-winning journalist who has covered wars in the Balkans, the Middle East and Central America. He writes a weekly column for Truthdig.org and is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute. He is the author of many books including Empire of Illusion, Death of the Liberal Class, The World As It Is, and Wages of Rebellion."

There are too many awards out there. Nobody needs that many awards.

[Akira]

"Death of the Liberal Class"

If only...

[straffinrun]

Dude looks like Jim Boeheim.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Coach Boeheim would chew this man up and spit him out.

[straffinrun]

Make that orangeman the speaker!

[gaoxiaen]

Agreed.

[Free Society]

Andrea Dworkin, the walrus woman whom, before she died of fat fuck disease, claimed to have been raped like 5 or 6 times. Never mind that she was quite possibly the most undesirable woman that any potential rapist has ever seen because I don't think it was anatomically possible to actually rape her, unless penetrating her fat folds counts as rape.

[Just say Nikki]

She wasn't always fat.

[Monty Crisco]

JUST BIG-BONED!!!

[Warty]

FAT CUNTS ARE TOO FAT TO RAPE HURR HURR HURRRR AM I RIGHT BOYS

Shut up, woman. #cuckservative

[Free Society]

I hope someone at the Chicago meetup takes photos so we can see once and for all if Warty is actually a malignant growth on Nikki's neck or if Nikki is a growth on his.

[Zeb]

Maybe they are each a growth on the other's neck.

[Old Man With Candy]

You have odd ideas. Warty was actually cloned from a segment removed from Episiarch's foreskin. Nikki is the progeny of one of my early experiences before I discovered that the molestation needs to be confined to pre-menarche.

I hope this clears things up for you.

[jesse.in.mb]

Would scrapings from a cloaca really be called "foreskin"?

[Old Man With Candy]

It was difficult. The first three tries just resulted in massive amounts of cloned smegma.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Didn't we already cover this a few weeks ago?

I know them both IRL. I have no idea where you keep getting this idea, but it makes you look retarded.

One is a bodybuilder scientist who can hold his daughter in the palm of his hand, and the other is hot little piece of half-italian ass.

I can see how you'd be easily confused about this.

[Free Society]

Didn't we already cover this a few weeks ago?

I know them both IRL. I have no idea where you keep getting this idea, but it makes you look retarded.

I get that you're a fan of Team Nikki and Warty but maybe don't take things so literally. I'm ambivalent about whether or not Nikki and Warty are the same person, just like I'm completely ambivalent about how badly the steroids have shriveled Warty's balls. It doesn't really matter.

If you'll grant for a moment that my comment was hyperbolic... it's a joke about Nikki and Warty's uncanny ability to tag team with each other in threads and their tendency to be posting on the same articles at the same time much more often than I see other commenters pull off. You'll scarcely find one without the other.

And there's a method to their little act.

Someone disagrees with the ever-disagreeable Nicole, or she disagrees with them, then Warty jumps in to mock the poster with all caps, makes some crude remark involving "HURR DURR" and sarcastically directs some sexist vitriol at Nicole. It's a formula they've acted out many-a-time.

[Old Man With Candy]

WHYCOME YOU SAY THAT?

[Citizen X]

I didn't know Warty was Italian.

[Zeb]

No accounting for taste. And rape often isn't about attraction.

[R C Dean]

But I think we can all agree that her claim to have been raped several times is utter horseshit.

[Just say Nikki]

Why?

[Free Society]

Because she made a career out of man-hating and the lionshare of these purported rapes happened after her "all men are rapists" lectures and book tours were well underway. They're also vague and implausible scenarios, full of inconsistencies and logical gaps, with locations remaining a secret with not one shred of evidence to back up her claims, including doubts expressed by her doctor and husband/man-servant. And to my knowledge, she didn't report any of these to police. They're just stories featured in her books.

But hey, don't let any of that cloud your judgement Nicole. #IBelieveHerNoMatterWhat

[Just say Nikki]

#IBelieveHerNoMatterWhat

Yep, that's what I said!

[Zeb]

I have no opinion or knowledge on that subject.

[Old Man With Candy]

Zeb, that is an intelligent comment.

Totally srs.

[Zeb]

Thanks. I wish more people would decline to have an opinion on things they know nothing about. I'm sure I'm guilty of it sometimes, but I try.

[Zeb]

What the fuck does that even mean?

[gaoxiaen]

Does she have a point?

[Lord Humungus]

Why regulation actually makes us less safe

The 2008 financial crisis, on the other hand, with its far-reaching tentacles (a.k.a. leverage), brought the financial system to its knees.

And that's what makes financial crises so destructive, according to Ip: the sudden realization that something thought to be safe in fact is not. The result is panic. Policy makers adopted a "never again" attitude, enacting Dodd-Frank and other regulations to keep us safe. Will they? It would be unique if regulators figured out a way to protect us from the next crisis.

What is Ip's solution? Overkill isn't the answer. Risk is essential to our progress as a society. We need to find a happy medium between the approaches of engineers and ecologists. Trying to abort speculation is "just as likely to do damage as to do good," Ip writes. The goal should be to find the right trade-off between risk and safety. Eliminate the big disasters, not every brush fire that crops up, and "accept a bit more risk and instability today in return for more reward and stability in the long run."

[some guy]

The goal should be to find the right trade-off between risk and safety.

No, the goal should be to make it clear that each individual is responsible for finding his own "right trade-off between risk and safety". Know thyself and leave everyone else alone.

[Mr. Flanders]

This is impractical in a global economy. In today's world, a person in Alabama can lose their job because of a risky investment made in Hong Kong. Its not always possible to protect yourself financially when you're missing the majority of the relevant information.

[Lee G]

The source underscored the unreliability of metadata, most often from phone and computer communications intercepts. These sources of information, identified by so-called selectors such as a phone number or email address, are the primary tools used by the military to find, fix, and finish its targets. "It requires an enormous amount of faith in the technology that you're using," the source said. "There's countless instances where I've come across intelligence that was faulty." This, he said, is a primary factor in the killing of civilians. "It's stunning the number of instances when selectors are misattributed to certain people. And it isn't until several months or years later that you all of a sudden realize that the entire time you thought you were going after this really hot target, you wind up realizing it was his mother's phone the whole time."

Jesus. Why am I not surprised.

[Lee G]

between January 2012 and February 2013, U.S. special operations airstrikes killed more than 200 people. Of those, only 35 were the intended targets. During one five-month period of the operation, according to the documents, nearly 90 percent of the people killed in airstrikes were not the intended targets. In Yemen and Somalia, where the U.S. has far more limited intelligence capabilities to confirm the people killed are the intended targets, the equivalent ratios may well be much worse.

The documents show that the military designated people it killed in targeted strikes as EKIA ? "enemy killed in action" ? even if they were not the intended targets of the strike. Unless evidence posthumously emerged to prove the males killed were not terrorists or "unlawful enemy combatants," EKIA remained their designation, according to the source.

[d3x / dt3]

"They hate us for our freedom."

[Lee G]

Blowback is a myth cooked up by drooling Paulites.

[Rich]

Our freedom to k-k-k-.....I can't say it!

[CatoTheChipper]

I don't have any statistics on this, but I imagine that old-school gangsters like Al Capone had a better ratio of targets killed to bystanders killed than Obama's drone program.

Government is just a mafia writ large, and it's a damned inefficient one as well.

[R C Dean]

Although the drone program certainly seems to be badly run, its amazing to me how low the casualties really are.

In historical context, those casualties wouldn't even rate a mention in a "real" war. Which opens up a number of questions, none of them pointing in a good direction, but the actual body count is, frankly, trivial in a warfighting context.

[Lord Humungus]

Hillary's Hollow Debate Victory
That she's the most electable Democrat doesn't mean she's electable

Las Vegas was a reminder that it is awfully hard to lose a nomination if no one truly plausible, let alone formidable, is running against you. The structure of the Democratic race from the beginning has been been about propping up Hillary Clinton, and it still is. The party is putting on a master class in how to nominate someone under FBI investigation, and is willfully in denial about her vulnerabilities.

Yes, Hillary had a good night. She was polished, knowledgeable, shrewd and hard-hitting? clearly, not someone to be trifled with. But the debate was a false indicator of her strength.

First, consider her competition (so far). Three former officeholders with nothing better to do, and one current officeholder who was crazy enough to launch a no-hope bid that has caught fire in the precincts of progressive America, but who isn't taken seriously as a general election candidate ? and probably never will be.

[crab_apple]

The Mitt Romney of 2016. She's inevitable, so voters are voting for her because they think voters will vote for her.

[Mazakon]

Famous quotes, the way a woman would have to say them during a meeting.

Examples:

"Give me liberty, or give me death."
Woman in a Meeting: "Dave, if I could, I could just ? I just really feel like if we had liberty it would be terrific, and the alternative would just be awful, you know? That's just how it strikes me. I don't know."

"I have a dream today!"
Woman in a Meeting: "I'm sorry, I just had this idea ? it's probably crazy, but ? look, just as long as we're throwing things out here ? I had sort of an idea or vision about maybe the future?"

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Ummm....

[Drake]

Imagine her in a debate with Sanders or Clinton.

[Rich]

I'd like to see Daniel Hannan or Nigel Farage debate any of the candidates.

[Suthenboy]

The WaPo is as bad as Vox, Jezebel, Slate, and Salon.
Have they always been this bad?

What a crock - o - shit.

[CatoTheChipper]

Utter bullshit: First, the fiery oratory of Patrick Henry and the aspirational oratory of MLK are inappropriate in a business setting. Businesses have to operate within the law and must comply with OSHA, so advocacy of an illegal insurrection that has the prospect of death would be a non-starter. Businesses also aren't interested in aspirational dreams, but concrete proposals for tangible achievement.

Second, the women in the company I work with are relatively outspoken. Most of the men are relatively demure, but there's a larger variance in their outspokenness.

However, when I used to work for a company where the founder and majority owner presided as a dictator (his word), the women there pretty much sycophants when speaking with the owner. Otherwise, they too were relatively outspoken.

[R C Dean]

That may be how women (and men) with serious self-confidence problems talk, but that is in no way how every woman HAS to talk in meetings.

I work in a hospital. The majority of our staff are women, and a big majority of management is women. None of them talk like that.

[VicRattlehead]

i concur, I work in an electrical shop and our secretary had the filthiest mouth of any woman ive ever met. actually both her and the second in command. both women and both would more likely punch you in the face rather than deal with bullshit. The secretary actually got fired for telling the manage she was going to drop kick him in the face if he called her a dumb cunt one more time

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

So... this is sexist as hell, right?

[Zeb]

Yes. Also kind of ridiculous to assume that an actress's experience is typical or representative.

I find that most people have a lot of respect for women who don't play the sweet submissive role and just say what they mean.

[Lord Humungus]

It's Healthier To Eat A Bug Than It Is To Eat A Steak

Researchers at the University of Oxford used two different metrics of nutritiousness: The first, the Ofcom model, appoints a score from one to 100 based on a food's calorie, sodium, sugar and saturated fat content per 100 grams of weight. The second, Nutrient Value Scores, offers a similar score to Ofcom, but includes vitamin and mineral values.

The Ofcom test didn't show any significant differences between bugs and livestock. But when vitamins and minerals were taken into account for the NVS evaluation, crickets, palm weevils (beetles), honeybees and larvae scored much higher than chicken and beef in particular.

[Warty]

Are we still imagining that saturated fat is bad for us, then?

[Brochettaward]

Someone should tell those starving people in Africa to pick up a stick and start digging. They can eat like kings.

[Old Man With Candy]

YOU'RE LIVING IN A DESERT! MOVE TOWARD THE FOOD!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sam Kinnisonesque!

[Zeb]

You do realize that people do eat bugs in a lot of places?

[Citizen X]

Insects contain a much higher percentage of protein than other sources of meat, so it's not too surprising that they could have more of other nutrients as well.

[Chip the Chipper]

They also contain a much higher percentage of ewwwwwwwwwwwwww

[straffinrun]

I fell for that line from a Tiajuana hooker once. Ok, twice.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Crabs: the other, other white meat.

[Ivan Pike]

Good, more steak for me.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

Not everything I eat is because of it's nutritional value. Very few things, actually.

[Suthenboy]

Insects are high in pathogens and poisons. Beef, not so much.

They can eat the bugs, I will stick with steak.

[Zeb]

Are they?

I'm not about to switch from beef to bugs either. But as the world population continues to grow and get wealthier, there is going to be a lot more demand for meat, probably making beef somewhat of a luxury good (even more than it already is). Other sources of quality protein are probably good to explore.

[Lord Humungus]

enough of your Warty fantasies

[VicRattlehead]

I submit to you, given Wartys insatiable sexual appetites, would it not be an almost unending supply of protein for the 3rd world?
Give him your tired, your poor and your hungry.
warty shall feed them from the doomcock

[Rich]

Panic strikes school after student says 'gum'

it was determined that a student thought he heard the word "gun," but in fact it was another student asking for some "gum." The safety of our students is always foremost on our list of priorities, so we take these concerns seriously.

"Panic strikes school after student sings 'We've only just begun'"

"Panic strikes school after student says 'Tim Gunn'"

"Panic strikes school after student asks 'Did you cum?'"

This stuff is so effin' stupid on so many levels.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Hi, Jack! Didn't know you'd be on this plane!

[d3x / dt3]

I know, Terry, my wrist is killing me!

[Rich]

This flight is abominable!

[lap83]

"Can I have some gun?" "Do you have any gun?" It doesn't even make sense phrased that way
"Can I have a piece of gum for when we rob that bank later?", maybe

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Um...If he were asking for a gun, it would indicate that he doesn't have one....

[Monty Crisco]

We are a nation full of gigantic pussies...

[Butts Wagner]

Your fresh death goes on and on, while you shoot it.

[Krokko]

"Sir, this looks like it says 'gub.' What's a 'gub?'"

[Mazakon]

Government food guidelines wrong again

Over the past 30 years, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans have become as bloated as the nation's collective waistline, serving up a thick brew of revolving-door nutrition advice, confusing messages, and perhaps even politically influenced eating recommendations.

In 1985, the report ? which gives updated nutrition advice to Americans every five years ? was just 19 pages long. It resulted in a simple brochure with commonsense advice: "If you are too fat, your chances of developing some chronic disorders are increased. . . . To lose weight, you must take in fewer calories than you burn." It advised against vomiting or using laxatives to lose weight (back when anorexia, not obesity, was a major concern). Only two charts were included: one with the desired weight for average adults and another with the calorie-burn for exercises such as ballroom dancing and chopping wood.

[Marshall Gill]

perhaps even politically influenced eating recommendations.

Perhaps?

[Free Society]

There is an outside possibility that the state operates based on it's political motivations. Luckily someone from the Chicago school of economics will conduct a decade of study to find out.

[Chip the Chipper]

I left the Reddit fat logic because literally every solution for the obesity problem was more government involvement. It was ridiculous.

[Lord Humungus]

Reagan's revolution is dying
For years, the GOP establishment harnessed the power of Southern whites for their own ends. Not any more

But it was Ronald Reagan who was the first truly neoliberal president to ran on the Southern Strategy, using dog-whistle terms like "welfare queen" and promoting states rights' issues in the deep South, where civil rights demonstrators had been terrorized a decade earlier. The late Republican strategist, Lee Atwater, notoriously described the southern strategy in an off-the-record interview:

"You start out in 1954 by saying, 'N***er, n***er, n***er.' By 1968 you can't say 'n***er'?that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states' rights, and all that stuff, and you're getting so abstract. Now, you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites."

No wonder the Republican party is so hostile towards immigrants with darker skin. According to a Pew Research Center poll, the most Republican segments of the population are white evangelicals, white southerners, white men with some college or less, and Mormons (a church that had banned black people up until 1978).

[Brochettaward]

It would be worth it to see Carson win the nomination just to shove the identity politics bullshit back up the proggie's asses.

[Drake]

The Reagan Revolution died the day HW Bush was elected and dedicated his term to dismantling it.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Mormons (a church that had banned black people up until 1978).

Uh, blacks could join the Mormon church before 1978; the men just weren't eligible to hold the church's Melchizedek priesthood classification, which is a requirement to have any sort of authority in the local ward/stake.

Yes, blacks were treated as second-class members, but it's patently absurd to claim that they were banned from joining at all.

[R C Dean]

Do Catholics allow women priests yet? Just askin'.

[Monty Crisco]

Had to be Salon... just knew it.

And how does a church "ban" black people? Just a blanket "ban"?

Fucking salon. AmSoc, PB and Tony's read of choice, no doubt...

[Rhywun]

"Cutting taxes hurts black people."

Remember, we're the racists.

[american socialist]

"DES MOINES, Iowa ? Former Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul forcefully accused federal prosecutors on Wednesday of timing indictments against three of his former campaign staffers specifically to hurt the political aspirations of his son, Rand."

This will probably push his poll numbers from 1.6 to 1.1%. A catastrophe.

I have to say that it's a shame that the Republican Party nomination process has become such a shit show that someone who does have some interesting libertarian values can't get a hearing. But in a political party where wall building, religious bigotry, and vaxxer propaganda is ascendent, what can you do? I understand your frustration, friend. Maybe next time you should run as a a democrat. They, at least, seem interested in debated issues and not screaming at each other over how they look.

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

"a political party where wall building, religious bigotry, and vaxxer propaganda"

Because socialists have never built walls, or engaged in religious bigotry or propaganda. Self awareness is not your friend.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Socialists did things for the greater good. They understand human nature and what's proper for us. If they need to kill, say, 100 million or so people and build gulags and such so be it. I mean, democracy and Scandinavia and the I-raq and such.

Hello.

[american socialist]

So Finland and the USSR were the same country is what you're saying. Libertarians sure are smart.

Mental note: must not criticize RP on libertarian website or you will be accused of killing 100 million people. That huts, man.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

I LOVE YOU AMSOC!!!! #FEELTEHLIBERTARIANBERN!!!!, RIGHT BRO?

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

Nobody accused you of murdering anyone. You're too much of a lazy pussy to actually do it yourself. You just want someone else to do it for you, just like paying your mortgage.

[Monty Crisco]

As a lazy pussy, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from comparing me to American Socialist.

Some things are just below the belt, sir.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

Yes, let's ignore the largest implementations of socialist ideology in favor of the few examples, limited to countries with racially and culturally homogeneous populations, that have not devolved to racial genocide, homicidal political purges, and/or complete economic collapse.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Finland is not Scandinavian smart alec. And you clearly misread.

/flicks Amsocs forehead with finger.

[VicRattlehead]

If they were interested in debating issues, why was Jim Webb effectively cut out from almost all discourse until he yelled at the moderator and even then only given a few minutes.
If Rand ran as team blue he would go the same way as the only rational one on the stage and get edged out of the entire thing.
I agree "self awareness is not your friend"

[Brochettaward]

After the Republican debate, the poll numbers actually changed. Democrats were entirely dismissive of everyone on the stage besides Hillary and Bernie. And what they really want Bernie to do is drag Hillary to the left.

[Raven Nation]

Hmm, Clinton/Sanders 2016?

[american socialist]

I like Jim Webb because he almost punched George w. Bush in the face back in 2007. That said, he's the furthest in the bunch from either the part of me that supports libertarianism or socialism. There's nothing moderate about libertarianism--and that is something in its favor-- so why should libertarians go around extolling the merits of someone so close to the DoD? I'm not a moderate. Are you?

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

I AGREE PUNCHING THOSE MEAN OLD TEATHUGLIKKAN PEEPLE IZ THE SOCIALIST PATH TO UTOPIA!!!1!!11! OH YOUR SOOOOOO SMART!11!!!!

[kbolino]

I'm not a moderate.

Have you ever used violence to obtain your political objectives? Have you ever tampered with the integrity of the electoral process? Do you advocate for those things, or would you support someone who did?

No? Then you are a moderate. One with an odious and self-serving philosophy, but a moderate nonetheless.

Yes? Then those actions speak for themselves.

[Monty Crisco]

"he's the furthest in the bunch from either the part of me that supports libertarianism or socialism"...

Not that ANY part of you supports libertarianism...

"There's nothing moderate about libertarianism..."

You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means....

[Free Society]

Maybe next time you should run as a a democrat. They, at least, seem interested in debated issues and not screaming at each other over how they look.

Well that depends on if the party elite will allow them to run and speak on the issues. It's not surprising you believe that the Democratic Party has competitive primaries, which couldn't be more obviously false.

[Lord Humungus]

Here's how the left wins in 2016: Why retaking the Senate is crucial for the progressive agenda
Amid the presidential hoopla, we're giving Senate races short shrift, but their outcomes will determine the agenda

Conventional wisdom has it that Democrats have a good chance of retaking the Senate majority just two years after losing it in the 2014 midterms. Of the 34 seats up for grabs, 24 belong to Republicans, some of whom were swept into office in the 2010 Tea Party wave and could get swept right back out again if the voting public decides it has seen enough of that crowd's government-by-temper-tantrum ethos.

If Democrats can snare a net gain of four seats (five if there's a GOP president), they will control the Senate. With the House of Representatives a lost cause for the party until congressional district maps get redrawn after the 2020 census, the fate of any major legislation pushed by a Democratic president will rest in the upper chamber. As anyone who recalls the push to pass Obamacare knows, those first two years are when a new president has the best chance of pushing big-ticket items, so Clinton or Sanders will want to push legislation before the 2018 midterms roll around and possibly give the Senate back to the GOP.

[Lee G]

if the voting public decides it has seen enough of that crowd's government-by-temper-tantrum ethos.

The electorate is not interested in a Congress that stands up for its own powers and is willing to fight the Executive tooth and nail to regain its authority.

[d3x / dt3]

I would almost (almost) be worth it to see how red congress would become if Hillary were elected president.

[Jordan]

Gun sales hit a record high for the fifth month in a row

Thanks Obama!

[Rich]

Don't say that! You'll make him mad!

[straffinrun]

Most were dumped into a Syrian desert I'm guessing.

[Monty Crisco]

They're gonna take 'em away one way or another.

Gavin Newsome wants to ban "high-capacity" magazines and have BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR AMMO.

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....s-on-ammo/

Can't say I'm surprised - the California legislature is like a competition of libtards to see who can propose the derpiest legislation...

[d3x / dt3]

You can practically see the spittle-flecked computer monitors as they write this shit.

"And HI CAP MAGS"

"And ASSAULT WEAPONS"

"And BULLETS"

"And RELOADING EQUIPMENT"

California and break off and sink into the ocean.

[CatoTheChipper]

It would be better to sell California to China. That way China could get something of value for their immense holdings of US debt, it work off US indebtedness, and the Calfornians would get the totalitarian regime that want and deserve.

[Monty Crisco]

That is, like, the best fucking idea I have ever heard!

[Rich]

Right on! And have background checks for buying Guns & Ammo magazine and joining the NRA!

[Old Man With Candy]

Magazine or clip?

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

And background checks for reading the Second Amendment! We don't want gun nuts getting any crazy ideas about "rights"

[Zaytsev]

Proglodytes totally don't want to confiscate your guns, wing nuts.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/pol.....34468.html

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

They're finally starting to abandon that lie

[straffinrun]

Amsoc has a nifty quote from BO that destroys this narrative.

[Jordan]

Obama totally supports the Second Amendment because he supports your right to own a musket which must be kept disassembled unless you go hunting.

[Ivan Pike]

Obama totally supports the Second Amendment because he supports your right to own a musket which must be kept disassembled unless you go hunting.

Can I still own an Excalibur? Because it is sweet.

[kbolino]

Obama totally supports the Second Amendment because he supports your right to own a musket which must be kept disassembled unless you go hunting.

Since when does the left not want to ban hunting? Their disingenuous nature is pretty blatant. They say the guns are for "the military" and "hunting" but they hate the military and they hate hunting.

[Suthenboy]

Didn't I just read that the NRA is a conspiracy minded bunch of nuts?

Just because someone is paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get them. Sometimes the paranoia is justified.

[Warty]

Occam's razor gathers no grants

Obviously, a Dyson sphere has never been spotted in real life, though they're all over science fiction. But if one were to exist, it wouldn't look like a metal ball around the sun ? it would probably comprise a chain of smaller satellites or space habitats, something that would block its star's light as weirdly and irregularly as the light of KIC 8462852 has been blocked. That's why researchers who are interested in finding alien life are so excited about the finding.

Sounds legit.

[Raven Nation]

It sounds like the writer is talking about a Dyson swarm (not that I disagree with your Occam's razor point).

[Suthenboy]

A swarm of mega-structures? How about a cloud or group of clouds possibly coalescing into a planet.

I see this shit all the time in science. Some fantastic, dramatic theory involving cataclysms , explosions, apocalypse and sex scandals of the royal family to explain some mundane shit. Think AGW.

Good job.

[some guy]

Much more likely that the star itself is alive and irregularly chewing space matter while Netflixing.

[Citizen X]

Only an Unprincipled Congress...

But you repeat yourself.

[Lee G]

The mental disconnect is astounding

Concerning Muslim immigrants and rape:

Sweden ranks near the top of the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index, yet it has become the most dangerous country for women outside of Africa, with an incidence of rape ten times that of its European peers. Sweden's political leaders not only refuse to take action, but have made it a criminal offense to talk about it.

Comment:

WAIT A MINUTE! Sweden has made it illegal to discuss their skyrocketing rape statistics?!!? WTF? THAT cannot go unchallenged! The Swedish Parliament must be controlled by their equivalent of our Republican Party. I've got to dig into that a little further; that's disgusting

[Illocust]

They are on Democrat Underground. The poster has probably never knowingly spoken to a non-democrat in their life. I'd say it's not his fault he's ignorant, but he put himself in this situation.

[Lee G]

I know it's like picking on the retarded kid, but still.

The underlying article is an interesting read. I doubt any of the DU crowd actually delved into it.

Political leaders in Germany?which may absorb 1.5 million migrants this year?are struggling to respond to reports of a sex crime epidemic among newly-arrived Muslims. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere urged Germans not to believe rumors of widespread rape at refugee centers, while Germany's police union chief Rainer Wendt warned, "There is a lot of glossing over going on. But this doesn't represent reality." Wendt added, "It is understandable that there is the desire to calm things down politically."

Germany's elite knows perfectly well that the migrants bring social pathologies, because they have already seen the world's worst sex crime epidemic unfold in Scandinavia. Sweden now has the highest incidence of reported rape outside of a few African countries, and nearly ten times the rate of its European peers?and all this has happened in the past ten years. Sweden ranks near the top of the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index, yet it has become the most dangerous country for women outside of Africa, with an incidence of rape ten times that of its European peers. Sweden's political leaders not only refuse to take action, but have made it a criminal offense to talk about it.

[straffinrun]

At least they are already familiar with the phrase "Stockholm Syndrome",

[Illocust]

Good lord, the comments on that article. The hate towards Jews is just weird to watch.

I wonder if Anti-Semitism might be why things have been allowed to get so bad. It seems on the other side of the pond I'm reading people who seem to think decrying Muslim immigrants for a real rape culture is the same as supporting Jews.

[Lee G]

I had them blocked before so I unblocked and checked them. Good Lord.

2. Spengler continues with his Zionist bile -- sure things are tough and dysfunctional in the Middle East, and honor killings are primitive tribalism at work rather than an enlightened Islamic view, but it is the existence of the Zionist racist apartheid regime in Palestine that is the core of this malaise.

How many women and children killed by your mad hate filled Zionist goons and thieving settlers, David P. Goldman? Even just recently? And even stabbing each other in fear and panic it seems.

So, let's us now turn to the 'peace-loving' and 'enlightened' Book of the Jews for guidance -- ahhhh, ... yes, there it is: infant male genital mutilations (& lifetime castration complexes); stoning to death for any number of things; genocide of indigenous tribes at the command of an invisible tribal sky-god; ... and the list goes on and on.

[Illocust]

Can you imagine someone saying this and expecting people to nod along in America? If the targets were Christians, I could see it happening, but who the fuck singles out Jews? It's just not even on the radar of hate for most Americans.

[Lee G]

There are definitely a few on the left who would draw the same conclusions as that commenter.

[Rhywun]

The Left has been openly anti-"Zionist" for decades. See for one example: disinvestment from Israel agitation at every American college campus.

[Monty Crisco]

IF you can find a recorded incident more violently barbaric than this, then I would like to see it. And no one has even mentioned it on this side of the pond:

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....-to-death/

Jesus, this guy really did just decide to become a violent murderer of Jews one day.

Religion of Peace? More like "religion of (hacked to) pieces"...

[kbolino]

Sweden ranks near the top of the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index

Reading this phrase reminds me of things like "sexual harassment coordinator". That's the person who coordinates all the sexual assaults, right?

One would think being at "the top" of the "Gender Gap Index" would be a bad thing.

[Free Society]

All cultures are equal and stuff. All immigrants are always a benefit to their host society all of the time, everywhere. /Cyto

[kbolino]

All cultures are equal and stuff.... /Cyto

Assuming you mean Cytotoxic (there is a poster named Cyto although he/she hasn't been around lately), that is very unlikely to be a thing he has ever said.

[R C Dean]

I wouldn't be so sure. Cytotoxic is firmly on the "Mass immigration is always and everywhere the best thing that can happen to a country" bandwagon.

[Free Society]

Cytotoxic literally said that. I asked him for clarification, as an opportunity to back down from the absolute claim he just made and he dug in his heels. He claimed all immigration is good in all places and at all times that it happens. Twas an astounding claim to make.

[CatoTheChipper]

It's political correctness run amok ... basically it's hate speech to observe that the incidence of rape has dramatically increased with Muslim immigration and that most rapes are committed by immigrants. Hate speech is a crime, and has no free speech protection.

[straffinrun]

For you baseball fans out there

[some guy]

Same guy also cut a BB pellet going even faster for Superhumans. There's a youtube of that out there somewhere.

[Idle Hands]

Anyone watch the incredible Toronto vs Texas game?

[some guy]

I saw the "highlights". The seventh was... weird. It was nice of the Rangers to make up for the Umps bad call by making all those errors.

[Warty]

Cleveland Trucker Murder

Good band name.

[Sevo]

"President Obama has a bold new plan: leave troops in Afghanistan for much longer. Certainly, this is just what the troubled region needs."

I continue to be amazed at the powers of W!

[CatoTheChipper]

"Most people agree that Hillary Clinton has been dishonest about Benghazi."

There are three levels of disgust with the Clinton State Department's Benghazi scandal.

1) The Benghazi incident itself, in which four Americans met a violent death at the hands of Islamist militants. I understand why people would be disappointed with the incompetence of their government, but when shit happens, it's not necessarily a scandal. For some reason, however, this is what the GOP and Fox News focuses on.

2) The deceptive cover story to whitewash the State Department's incompetence and to maintain the illusion that the War on Terror was going swimmingly: i.e., Susan Rice et al going on every network that would broadcast State's lies over and over again. This is what I personally thought was intolerable at the time. After all, shit happens, but one doesn't have to blatantly lie about it and suggest that maybe there should be constraints on the freedom of expression and imprison a goofy film-maker.

3) More recent revelations that Hillary's State Department rejected overtures for peace from Gaddafi's son and recommendations from the US military so that she could support an Islamist insurrection in Libya. The other night Hillary! said this was "smart power at its best". The fact is that it left behind piles of dead and decaying bodies and a chaos that will probably be ordered by a medieval Islamist tyranny. This is the real scandal.

[Raven Nation]

Yeah, (2) was a big one for a lot of people I think. And it was magnified by the, defensible, suspicion that the lies were perpetrated to save the "Osama bin Laden is dead and GM is alive" narrative of the administration.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

PHAAAAIKKK SKANDUL!!!11!!!!

[The Last American Hero]

4) Hillary "I accept full responsibility" Clinton. Apparently accepting full responsibility means nobody loses their job. If she really accepted full responsibility, she would have fired a bunch of people, resigned in shame, and quietly left public life. Kind of like the guy from VW:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/2.....index.html

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

*sigh* You just don't get it, do you. She accepts responsibility. She publically stated that she accepts responsibility. Therefore, the whole matter should go away and we should never speak of it again. After all, she ACCEPTED responsibility.

Geesh.

[CatoTheChipper]

Of course she takes full responsibility: she is proud of her accomplishments in Libya.

In her own words, the Libyan intervention was "smart power at its best".

[Raven Nation]

Janet Reno accepted full responsibility for Waco.

[Drake]

4) The debacle in Libya accelerated the Muslim immigration mess in Europe which is going to have dire consequences.

5) WTF was Stevens and the CIA doing in Benghazi? Gun-running to Syria? Holding hostages?

6) Her unsecured emails contained Stevens' travel and security plans and went to Sid Blumenthal private email which we know was hacked. Did her carelessness get Stevens killed?

[CatoTheChipper]

I wasn't aware of #6.

[Drake]

I would assume that will be a Republican ad in a year or so.

[BigT]

Do you have a link for 6? I am skeptical - this would be on Drudge in END OF WORLD lettering if true.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

The hacker is in prison.

[Tonio]

NPR's Morning Edition did a surprisingly good report this morning on the unfair manner in which many colleges are treating those accused of sexual assaults. A good long segment featuring one of the people from FIRE. There was also a segment from the mother (!) of a falsely accused student who now runs a group called FACE; this woman actually used the word "hysterical" to describe the attitude of administrators. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it didn't.

[The Last American Hero]

Similar to the Salem witch trials, this shit will continue until the wrong sort of people are accused of wrongdoing.

[some guy]

The "other" shoe has been dropping repeatedly at NPR for years now. It's been dropping in earnest for the last several months (since at least the "Jackie" thing started).

In other words, this is the other shoe, finally dropping after so much damage has been done by the media on this subject.

[Tonio]

That is a very good analysis, some guy. Thank you.

[Illocust]

Sweet, we may be finally seeing the swing back from all this craziness.

[Warty]

So apparently we're at war in Cameroon now. Who knew? Good thing we all voted for the peace candidate.

[R C Dean]

And even better that Congress declared war. Those were some contentious hearings, weren't they? The best moment was when Nancy Pelosi said that our Nobel Peace Prize President would never get us into another pointless war, so this one can't be pointless and only a traitor would vote against Obama's desires.

[some guy]

Good thing we all voted for the peace candidate.

You were on the Nobel Peace Prize committee a while back? That explains some of the trolling...

[some guy]

This is aimed at Warty 10:33... stupid squirrels.

[BigT]

Patrick Moore gave a great lecture yesterday about global warming and CO2.

The contention that human emissions are now the dominant influence on climate is simply a hypothesis, rather than a universally accepted scientific theory. It is therefore correct, indeed verging on compulsory in the scientific tradition, to be skeptical of those who express certainty that "the science is settled" and "the debate is over".

But there is certainty beyond any doubt that CO2 is the building block for all life on Earth and that without its presence in the global atmosphere at a sufficient concentration this would be a dead planet. Yet today our children and our publics are taught that CO2 is a toxic pollutant that will destroy life and bring civilization to its knees. Tonight I hope to turn this dangerous human-caused propaganda on its head. Tonight I will demonstrate that human emissions of CO2 have already saved life on our planet from a very untimely end. That in the absence of our emitting some of the carbon back into the atmosphere from whence it came in the first place, most or perhaps all life on Earth would begin to die less than two million years from today

Not use I'm on board with that last sentence, but he gives great detail on CO2 in earth's history.

[BigT]

Here is another great piece on the use of propaganda techniques by the AGW crowd:

"Infiltration. The effect of condoning psychologically intimidating language in a climate science peer-reviewed journal"
-Michelle Stirling

Vested interests and professional positioning have led a long-term attack on dissenting views on climate change. Various psychological intimidation tactics have been employed (name-calling, bullying) to denigrate and isolate researchers whose views and research dispute the findings of the IPCC. In most areas of science, new perspectives are welcomed, discussed in a collegial manner. The author examines a case of a recent peer-reviewed paper in climate science, "Seepage: Climate change denial and its effect on the scientific community" Lewandowsky, Oreskes et al, in which disparaging words have infiltrated peer-reviewed works thus becoming officially condoned as an acceptable part of the scientific language. [] this form of scientific misconduct operates on two levels, that of the researchers and that of the peer-reviewers, and it creates a powerful, inappropriate precedent that endorses name-calling. If so, this infiltration of the terms 'climate change denial' and 'contrarian' would set a peer-review precedent that would create a psychological and socio-economic threat to dissenting researchers in a field intended to be open to inquiry.

[GILMORE?]

"Remember that aunt suing her nephew for an overly exuberant hug? We have an explanation: she was required to file the suit in order for the insurance company to pay out."

Meh. I'm still going with "the ghost of her dead sister possessed the child to attack her" in the Made-For-TV version.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Los Angeles City Council Legalizes Home Bee Keeping